Choices
by aria009hera
Summary: This is a One-Shot taking place in the initial arc of Rangrasiya when Rudra had held Paro captive because he thought she was a terrorist. What if during their Maha-Shivratri wedding, she went with Thakur Tejawat and he tortured her? What if she realized that the choice she made was a wrong one? P.S. I suck at summaries. Please check it out yourself.


**PaRud OS – Choices**

* * *

She had chosen this for herself.

She had. In all her senses.

Her lips didn't stop quivering. Her soul didn't stop chanting the Om Namah Shivay Mantra. It was useless, she knew.

But she couldn't help it. She just had to.

She just had to pray for something to happen.

No, she just had to pray for him to come for her.

But after what she had done, she knew she was hoping against hope that he would come.

-x-x-

The cell was terrifying. It was in some dark, secluded basement of the haveli, a corner she maybe had never visited in all the times she had been in the haveli. The air was musty, and it was impossible to breathe without coughing up now and then.

She had been drifting in and out of consciousness.

She woke up again, in the darkness.

"_Paani.." _She helplessly uttered.

Nobody paid any attention to her meek voice.

A fleeting image, of him, checking the water first, flew by her eyes.

"_Raja Thakur-Sa... Paani de do manne.." _She cried this time, afraid of the never ending darkness of the cell.

Yet, nobody came.

She knew who the real monsters were this time around, and couldn't help but curse herself.

_Pachtaawa bahot bhooka hota hai Paro..._ A lingering thought, his voice reverberated in her ears, as she lost consciousness again.

-x-x-

She woke up with a jolt this time, as a wave of cold water hit her body. She shivered, unprepared for the sudden assault.

"_Paro Bai-Sa..." _His sugary sweet voice cooed to her, _"Ab toh bata do, ki BSD ke saamne kya kya raaj ugal aayi ho aap..." _

She shook under the horror of the torture she would get. Was this how he was paying her for her loyalty?

Was this the fruit of the trust she had laid on him?

She uttered what was the only answer she knew, "_Raja Thakur-Sa... Mai aapke haath jodu hu... Maami-Sa ki kasam khaa ke bolu hu... Maine kuch naa bataaya... Bholenath ki kasam... Maine kuch naa bataya Thakur-Sa..."_

*Slap*

She winced at the pain she felt. She knew blood would start gushing out from the cut that was left on her cheek. Her tears were flowing freely right now.

"_Bakwaas!" _He thundered.

"_Bheema.. Chhori ko ek boond paani tak nahi dena jab tak yeh sach naa ugle!" _He commanded, and his goon bowed down to his order. "A_ur agar zyaada der chup rahe, toh maar de.."_

She knew now. She had chosen the wrong side. She had betrayed her only protector, and come with the wolf in sheep's clothing.

She lay there, quietly sobbing until they left her in the dark cell.

-x-x-

_Paro... Uth Paro. _

_Dekh, Mai aa gaya hu.. _

_Uth jaa ab, bahot kar lia naatak._

_Dekh Paro, dimaag mat kharab kar! Uth ab!_

She woke up. Was he here? She was sure she heard his voice. He was scolding her, wasn't he?

"_Rudra...?"_ She murmured, her mind playing games on her.

"Rudra?" She screamed this time, only to hear her voice answering her back.

She broke down again, her soul scattered into pieces. How was she going to survive this on her own?

When it was _him _as the opponent, at least she had the trust that he wouldn't dare lay his hands on her.

But right now? Right now, she was imprisoned by the people she had trusted all her life. The person whom she had considered to be her pseudo-parent, her real protector, had incapacitated her, tortured her, and wouldn't stop at anything she would say.

-x-x-

"Yeh kya hai?" He bellowed, trying to scare the man who was looking as if he was out for blood.

Tejawat wasn't a man who was ever intimidated. But one thing he knew, this man's eyes looked like they would wreak havoc.

Not that Tejawat minded that one bit.

"Warrant hai. Search warrant." The man's cold voice flew smoothly out of his lips.

Strange. His eyes were wild, reminding Tejawat of the _aghori_ he had come across when he had gone to Haridwar.

The madness, the bloodlust, everything was there.

But his voice... His voice didn't express any of that.

"Iss haveli ka hai... Iss baar asli hai, Tejawat." The man told him with a voice that seemed to be coming from the netherworld.

"Ladki toh mhaare paas apni marji se aayi thi Major. Aur apni marji se chali gayi. Fir yeh search warrant kis kaam ka?" Tejawat smiled. No puny search warrant was ever enough to breach his fortress.

"Iska koi gawaah nahi hai, ki Ladki thaare paas uski marji se aayi yaa kahin aur gayi hai." He said, and then calmly added, "Aur woh ladki mhaari biwi hai... Toh BSD aapka khoob khoob aabhaar maanegi Thakur-Sa, agar aap mhaari biwi ko dhoondhne mei sahkaar denge."

Tejawat studied the paper in his hand once more, and gritted his teeth.

"Kyaa aapko aisa lag raha hai ki humei kuch gair-kanooni mil sakta hai aapki haveli ki talaashi mei, Thakur-Sa?" He gave him an eerily calm smile, and waited for him to answer.

-x-x-

He had obviously known that the girl would cross any limit of foolishness for her faith. And it had been gut wrenchingly painful. He still refused to accept that it rankled when she stood on the opposite side, so fearlessly revolting against him.

For a moment, hatred had consumed him. He had relived betrayal in its purest form. But then, he had seen the naivety in her eyes. She wasn't even aware of what was coming for her.

Right now, all that mattered was that whether she was still alive or not. Something inside him told him that she still existed... That even though weakly, but she was breathing.

All he wanted was to see her. To know that she was alright and to make her safe.

Everything else could wait.

He had taken all the necessary steps this time around. He hadn't been brash. He hadn't been impulsive. He had controlled his deepest darkest urges to wreak havoc on everything just so he could get her safely.

He had gone to his seniors. He had told them about his marriage. They didn't need to know the whole story. All he had needed to do was forge signatures and he had declared her to be legally wed to him. He had obtained the necessary paperwork from them to get a search warrant out for her, citing the kidnappings going on in his village. He had even went ahead and taken his Kaku-Sa's help and given the example of Maithili.

All the while, it had been like living hell over and over again each second. All the time that he spent restraining himself from running to her, barging into the haveli with full arsenal in place and rescuing her, was like drinking a poison of a special kind.

His body hummed to take action. Yet, he restrained it. He needed to see her. He just needed to see her.

-x-x-

His eyes measured the man before him. This was not a battle that would result in a hundred percent win.

If he tried to retort, the whole BSD platoon would barge in without thinking twice. And once they did, they'd not leave a stone in its place. They would thrash down his ancestral haveli with brutality and ruthlessness.

The business would come crashing down, and the guns would be seized.

He gritted his teeth, and shot out, "BHEEMA!"

As soon as his aid was by his side, he whispered into his ear.

"Jee Hukum." Bheema bowed down, and went inside.

He would win another round. He would take care of the girl afterwards. Right now, he needed to save his fortress. It was bigger than anything in his life.

Rudra smiled. It was evident in Thakur's face that he would not risk his haveli, his everything for this.

He held in his breath, waiting for the moment to finally arrive.

-x-x-

She heard the door to her cell open up with a creaking sound. Her eyes were hazed with the tears that she had been pouring, yet her sub-conscious only called out for one person.

"Rudra...?" She meekly enquired, with the voice she could muster.

A large foreign hand held her, and got her up to her feet.

"Kahaan le jaa rahe ho manne!" She screamed, as the hand dragged her towards light.

Her eyes squinted with the sudden onslaught of light, and her lungs opened at the fresh air.

But more than anything, she knew.

She knew it was his presence that was bringing her back to life.

And that was when she saw him.

He was standing at the haveli gates with more BSD men than she had ever seen in her life, in a stance ready to wage war.

War? For her?

She couldn't hold back her tears. The only thought to be back to safety was enough to make her fight the man who was holding her hands and run.

Run to him.

-x-x-

He had seen her as soon as she had come into the light. Her face was injured, and that had made his blood boil to furious levels.

But she was moving.

Moving towards him.

And as soon as she was in touchable vicinity, he grabbed her hand and shielded her behind him, for he needed to talk to someone right now.

He felt her shiver into his back, and could feel the silent wetness of her tears seeping into his uniform.

"BSD aapka aabhaari hai Thakur Param Singh Tejawat. Humne aapko itni raat ka taqleef di, iska humei khed hai." He spoke to the man who was shooting bullets with his eyes.

The Haveli gates were finally shut off on their faces, and that was when he finally turned, so that he was facing her.

She was crying into his chest now, and for some reason, he felt his soul was shattering too.

But he didn't stop her. How could he?

After what seemed like eons, when she finally started sobbing softly, he spoke.

"Tu theek hai?"

He heard her intake a gush of breath, and he shivered at the proximity she was in.

"Ab theek hu..." She replied.


End file.
